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Bullying: When Work Becomes Indecent Angelo Soares, Ph.D

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Bullying: When Work Becomes Indecent Angelo Soares, Ph.D Bullying: When Work Becomes Indecent Angelo Soares, Ph.D. Professor École des sciences de la gestion Departement of Organisation and Human Resources Université du Québec à Montréal C.P. 8888 succ. Centre-ville Montréal (Québec) H3C 4R2 Canada Telephone: (514) 987-3000 ext. 2089 Fax: (514) 987-0407 E-mail: [email protected] Montreal January 2002 Acknowledgments We would like to thank all the workers who took the time and courage to complete our questionnaire. We would also like to thank all those whom we have met on a personal basis and who had the trust and confidence to share their sufferings with us. We could not have completed this survey without the sustained collaboration of the Centrale des syndicats du Québec. Most especially, I would like to extend a warm thank you to Nicole Lepage and Jean-Claude Tardif for all the support that they granted me. We thank also Raymond Laliberté of the Research Center in Management at UQAM for his precious help in the statistical analysis. Finally, my acknowledgments go to the Québec Council for Social Research and the CSQ for their financial support. Angelo Soares is a professor in the Department of Organizations and Human Resources at the School of Management at the University of Quebec in Montreal where he teaches courses in organizational behaviour. He is a sociologist of work (Ph.D. sociology - Laval University) and is a member of CINBIOSE - (Centre d'étude des interactions biologiques entre la santé et l'environnement) (Center for the Study of Biological Interactions Between Earth and Environment) where he completed his post-doctorate work. His reserach interests include emotions and psychological harassment at work, violence at work, and new forms of work organization (including telework). He is also interested in the work of women, mental health at work, and work in the services sector. He has organized several conferences on different aspects of work and is the author of Stratégies de résistance et travail des femmes (Strategies of Resistance and the Work of Women) Montreal and Paris, Harmattan, 1997. Bullying: When Work Becomes Indecent Angelo Soares We particularly ask you: When a thing continually occurs Not on that account to find it natural Let nothing be called natural In an age of bloody confusion Ordered disorder, planned caprice, And dehumanized humanity, lest all things Be held unalterable! Bertold Brecht Bullying in the workplace in one form or another has always existed. Since the 1990s, however, the frequency, intensity and psychopathological consequences of bullying in the workplace have reached alarming proportions in a variety of countries. In France the publication of a book on the subject titled Le Harcèlement moral by Marie-France Hirigoyen launched a debate which has led to a better understanding of this phenomenon. Not only does the book focus attention on this insidious form of violence, it also reminds readers that putting up with bullying at work is not a normal part of the job. Furthermore, the volume gives a voice to numerous victims of work-related bullying, and it resulted in the passing of a law in France (December 2001) to counter work-related bullying. The law, drafted within the framework of a thrust towards social modernization, makes bullying at work punishable by up to one year in prison and a fine of 100,000 Francs ($20,000). Similar laws are currently being considered in Ireland, Belgium, the U.K. and Portugal. The European Parliament recently endorsed a report on bullying at work; it is also presently considering different means by which to combat this form of violence in the workplace. In Québec, an interministerial commission led by the Minister of Labour tabled a report on the problem in May 2001. When Work Becomes Indecent - 5 - Definitions Different definitions have been used in different studies on bullying at work. Listed below are some of the principle definitions used in the francophone and anglophone literature: Χ repeated and obstinate attempts of one person to torment, frustrate, or break the resistance of an another person, an attempt to get a wanted reaction from them. It is a form of treatment that, applied with persistence, provokes, pressures, frightens, intimidates, and inconveniences the victim (Brodsky, 1976). Χ destructive process consisting of a succession of hostile statements and actions which, if taken in isolation, seem harmless, but whose constant repetition has pernicious effects (Leymann, 1996: p. 26-27). Χ any and all action which, through its repetition or its severity, diminishes the dignity or the integrity of the worker... It can take many forms such as insults, humiliation, threats, blackmail, direct or indirect accusations, unfounded insinuations, unjustified acts of retaliation, constant personal attacks (Au bas de l'échelle, 1998). Χ repeated inappropriate behaviour, direct or indirect, whether verbal, physical or otherwise, conducted by one or more persons against another or others, at the place of work and/or in the course of employment, which could reasonably be regarded as undermining the individual=s right to dignity at work. (Doyle, 2001) Χ all behaviour deemed abusive (through gestures, words, demeanour, attitude...) which diminishes, by its repetition or systematization, the dignity or the psychological or physical integrity of an individual, thereby compromising the individual's employment or causing damage to labour relations (Hirigoyen, 2001: p. 13). Both the francophone and the anglophone literatures seem to agree on at least three elements of the definition: first, (1) the recurring and persistent nature of the action; next, (2) the harmful, even devastating, effects on the person being targeted; and finally (3) the focus of the definition on the effects suffered by the targeted individual and not on Bullying at Work - 6 - the intentions of the aggressor (Quine, 1999). Bullying is described in the literature as a form of systematic aggression committed by an individual or group against an individual or group. Contrary to other forms of violence in the workplace, bullying is a process comprised of different types of behaviours which evolve over time. Since it is a process, it is important to understand how and when it originates if we are to prevent it or intervene effectively shortly after its onset. Sources and Types of Bullying Dejours (1998) associates bullying at work to newly emerging forms of labour relations that are characterized by the weakening of labour unions and by the destabilisation of labour alliances caused by the rationalization of the labour force within organisations1. This far-reaching transformation of the organization and of work conditions can be seen as a probable cause of the increase in the incidence of bullying at work. In fact, bullying at work must be understood here not as an isolated, episodic, instant, and accidental phenomenon, but as the result of the convergence of several tendencies which affect the very nature of work organization today. For not only do these tendencies carry the germs of violence, they also provoke the disintegration of social relations in the workplace as well as outside the workplace. Le Goff (2000) also emphasizes the social conditions which bring about an increase in the expression of this form of violence. It must be understood that these new forms of work (dis)organization do not in themselves lead to bullying, but they do provide a fertile ground in which it may occur. 1. On the topic of the casualisation and the weakening of the relationsships at work see: Huez (1997 and 1998), Sennett (1998) and Appay & Thébaud-Mony (1997). When Work Becomes Indecent - 7 - Dejours (2001) also raises an important point which has heretofore evaded empirical study in asserting that bullying is rarely felt by just one person. "The persecution of an individual has a powerful intimidating effect on colleagues who come to recognize the impunity with which the aggressor acts... and this increases their own fear! Everyone is out to protect himself/herself... Silence and the defection of witnesses, the absence of solidarity and assistance are catastrophic for the victim" (p. 10). Therefore, it seemed important and pertinent to ask questions not just about the effects of bullying on the mental health of targeted individuals, but about witnesses of the acts as well. On the basis of a series of inquiries and interviews Leymann (1996) was able to devise a typology of forty-five behaviours arranged in five groups to characterize bullying at work. These behaviours attempt to: (1) prevent the victim from expressing himself/herself; (2) isolate the victim; (3) diminish the victim with respect to colleagues; (4) discredit the victim in the workplace; (5) compromise the health of the victim. According to Leymann (1996), bullying can develop vertically within the hierarchy of the organization or horizontally (between and among colleagues within the same hierarchical level). Cru (2001) further refines the issue with respect to vertical bullying by differentiating between bullying in which management is openly involved in dismantling the social bond versus where management denounces bullying but abets it through its action (or inaction). We believe that it is necessary to describe a third type, namely one in which management is directly responsible for bullying as a result of its incompetence or through lack of leadership. The objective here is not to defend nor to justify the actions of the bully; however, before advancing simplistic hypotheses one must
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